 First American edition of Irving's somewhat fanciful yet readable work on Christopher Columbus. Irving notes in the preface “the sight of disjointed papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader” so he has decided to create a narrative rather than simply translate pertinent documents related to Columbus as originally asked. This edition comes with alarge folding map of Columbus' route through the Bahama Islands.

Provenance: Signature of Sam Baird on front endpaper and title-page of vol. I and half-title of vol. II.

As described in the BAL, signature sign 6 is not present on p. 41 in vol. I and the last page of vol. III is unnumbered.

 BAL 10124. Bound as above, bindings moderately rubbed with one sliver of leather lost at a joint and a small patch lost near the bottom of one back cover. Age-toning, foxing, and some other spotting; some corners creased (some corners improperly trimmed during manufacture. Inscriptions as above, light pencilling on endpapers of one volume; map wrinkled with some old light staining and a tear repaired some time ago from back, with cloth tape — folds strong. A classic semi-historical work most strikingly bound. (36170)

WithHoward Pyle's Illustrations;WithoutSome Other Bits

Irving, Washington. A history of New-York from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty; containing, among many surprising and curious matters, the unutterable ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the disastrous projects of William the Testy, and the chivalric achievements of Peter the Headstrong — the three Dutch governors of New Amsterdam; being the only authentic history of times that ever hath been or ever will be published. New York: Printed for the Grolier Club, 1886. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.125"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [4 (of 6)] ff., 312 pp., 1 plate; lacks the two prelim. states of the frontis., the half-title, and the colophon leaves. II: [6], 275, [5] pp., [4] leaves of plates l lacks the two prelim. states of the frontis. $400.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 An early Grolier Club publication (i.e., number 4): Limited to 175 copies on Holland paper and two on vellum, with this copy on Holland. The illustrations are by George H. Boughton, Will H. Drake, and Howard Pyle; etchings by Henry C. Eno and F. Raubicheck. The text and illustrations were printed at the DeVinne Press, andthe edition contains previously unpublished authorial corrections.

The title-page is in black and red, bearing the Grolier Club emblem in brown. Similarly, the initials and head- and tailpieces are printed in brown.

 Bound as above. Vol. I lacks half-title, colophon leaf, and the two states of the frontispieces before the lettering. Vol. II lacks the cancelled title-page, the two states of the frontispieces before the lettering, and the instructions to the binder. A lesson of a set, as the lacking elements that so affect the price of this handsome duo are so not-obviously “missing”:One must *know* they're supposed to be there! (35436)

 First U.S. edition, later printing (with publisher's address of 10 Park Place), in the
binding described by BAL; delightfully entertaining tales from a beloved author, collected from
their appearances in various periodicals. The frontispiece was done by Darley and the added
wood-engraved title-page by J.W. Orr.

Provenance:Front pastedown with bookplates of prominent Philadelphia collector
Robert R. Dearden and Philip Justice Steinmetz, an Episcopal clergyman; the
latter design shows a view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park,
PA, of which Dr. Steinmetz was the pastor.

 Privately printed Christmas greetings and keepsake, from Walter and Katharine Kolasa. Reflections on the festivity of Christmas. Illustrated with seven full-page drawings. Scarce: Only two copies located via OCLC.

 Typographically embellished patriotic poetry: The hymn is written in quatrains and is printed within a “temple” created out of printers' ornaments, dingbats, and dashes. In the arch above the temple's pillars one reads, below the “Eagle and Serpent” logo, “Al glorioso recuerdo del Grito de Dolores.”

The only institutions reporting ownership of this duo (the Spanish National Library, the British Library) catalogue them as separate items, not being in any way connected, but clearly, as this offering proves, they were printed at the same time, on the same press, on one single full folio sheet (i.e., 30.5 x 42 cm; 12" x 16.5").

Two examples of celebratory patriotic poetry and clearly very scarce. But one wonders, why were these printed in 1833, which was not a logical year for celebrating either the Grito de Dolores or the Plan of Iguala?

 Folded in fourths once upon a time with one blank-area rust(?) stain and soiling along the folds to the Himno patriotico, which also is lightly dust-soiled. The bifolium was once stitched lightly as per holes in the gutter. Very good. (37060)

 Helen Hunt Jackson avowedly wrote Ramona, set during the Spanish missions period of California, to do for the American Indian what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the African-American The novel appeared as a book in 1884, five years after she heard an eloquent lecture by two Ponca Indians, Standing Bear and Bright Eyes, on the injustices inflicted upon the Indian at the hands of greedy white settlers. Roused to action, she had written her first book on the subject in 1881, a well-researched work of non-fiction called A Century of Dishonor; but unhappily, neither that one nor this mobilized much support for the rights of the first Americans — although the novel was very, very popular. The introduction here is by J. Frank Dobie who writes, “her chief work lives on, not only in print but in the minds and emotions of people who call for the book in libraries, buy it in stores, read it, and are moved by it. Helen Hunt Jackson's outcries of moral indignation against America's shifty and cruel treatment of Indians still lift human spirits — even though comparatively few people are moved to lift hands against ambitious patriots still trying to get hold of Indian property . . . Her passion against wrong and for right will make her book live a long, long while yet.”

The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.

Binding: In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298. Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy. (30117)

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

 Scarce, andundescribed in any major database. Edited and contributed to by the prolific French author Paul Lacroix, best known as “Bibliophile Jacob,” this lovely collection of short stories, poems, and meditations by Lacroix, Balzac, Émile Délerot, Charles Nodier, et al. is illustrated with22 large steel engravings done by J.C. Armytage, W. Greatbach, J.B. Allen, J.T. Willmore, F. Joubert, and others after designs by artists including Turner, Webster, etc.

 Contemporary quarter morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly rubbed over sides and extremities. Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate. Front free endpaper and first few leaves separated. Occasional faint pencilled vocabulary annotations, in English. Scattered light spots of foxing, with most plates clean and untouched, a few showing some spotting in margins.

 First U.S. edition, in BAL's binding state 1 (with “Houghton, Osgood & Co.” on spine). Although modern criticism considers this novel one of James's more lightweight works, it was quite popular at the time of its publication, and the author chose to include it in the first collection of his works.

We have, at the moment, an interesting number of such “first American editions.” Please, enquire!

 This classic allegorical poem of Persian/Tajik literature comes from the pen of Jami (1414–92) and was translated in 1856 by Edward Fitzgerald (1809–83), the famed translator of “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám.” The illustrations here, in color, are by E.A. Cox.

Limited to 1000 copies.

 Publisher's red cloth with gilt title and “tailpiece-“like device on front board and title in gilt on spine. Fore- and tailedges deckled. A fine copy. (36981)

 First edition: nine age- and chill-related poems. The volume was designed and printed by Claire Van Vliet, with the text handset in Trump Mediaeval italic and printed in black and silver on Barcham Green Charles I paper, and illustrated with a wood engraving by Monica Poole. This isone of only 50 copies printed for the Janus Press (with an additional 170 for the Gruffyground Press).

 Limited Editions Club rendition of this classic work of English humor, in which George, Harris, and Jerome (all “seasoned hypochondriacs,” as the newsletter puts it) take Montmorency the dog along with them for a boating trip up the Thames that turns out rather more complicated than expected.Stella Gibbons (a great choice) provided the introduction, and John Griffiths produced the12 full-page and two double-spread color plates, as well as numerous black-and-white ink drawings. John Lewis set the horizontally formatted work (so done “because so few rivers in England are perpendicular”) in Modern Extended and ultra-bold Bodoni type; it was printed by W.S. Cowell Ltd. on Abbey Mills cream-colored eggshell paper, and snazzily bound in gaily striped scarlet, slate, and yellow linen.

This is numbered copy 733 of 2000 printed; it issigned by the artist at the colophon. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 487. Binding as above, with ochre linen shelfback and gilt-stamped title, in yellow paper–covered slipcase with gilt-stamped title; slipcase with a few small scuffs and light shelfwear to edges, still nice, and volume clean and fresh. (36861)

 One of the first two books printed at Eton, both in Greek and both printed in 1610. The Byzantine poetry here is from the pen of John, Mauropus, an 11th-century teacher, hymnographer, orator, Byzantine Greek poet, and correspondent of scholars.

This, the editio princeps, was edited by and has the notes of Matthew Bust (1543 or 1544–1613), Fellow of Eton College and father of his namesake who was Master of Eton (1611–30). The prefatory matter and notes are printed in Latin in italics and the main text is in a large greek face; the actual printer's name is from STC.

Searches of STC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate many copies in Britain and even Europe, but only five in U.S. libraries.

Provenance: 18th-century ownership inscription at top of title-page: “Petri Bonifantii.” Most recently in the collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Volpone, The Alchemist, and Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman: Three of Jonson's most popular and enduring comedies, happily followed by “A True and Exact Catalogue of All the Plays and Other Dramatick Pieces, That Were Ever Yet Printed in the English Tongue, in Alphabetical Order.” The plays were also issued separately; and while the title-page giving “The Three Celebrated Plays of That Excellent Poet Ben Jonson,” published by W. Feales, is not present here, the presence ofthe Volpone plate (engraved by Jan Van der Gucht) and several pagination errata seem to indicate that this is indeed Feales's omnibus edition.

 ESTC T79993. Binding as above, rebacked some time ago with mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt floral decorations in compartments; upper corners refurbished, edges and extremities rubbed, hinges (inside) cracked, volume holding. A copy without the general title-page, and with bookplate as above. First and last few leaves (including frontispiece) with offsetting to margins from pastedowns; back free endpaper with a corner torn away; pages age-toned, with some instances of mild foxing. A nice 18th-century look at Jonson,with the bonusof the contemporary theatrical catalogue. (35449)

A Comic Romp — An Oxford, MeynellLECProduction

Jonson, Ben. Volpone, or the fox. Oxford: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, 1952. Folio. (30 cm, 11.75"). [4], v–xxv, [3], 163, [2] pp.; 17 plts.$150.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 Ben Jonson's first great comedy was produced in 1605, after a brief stay in prison for offending the new king of England, James I. Jonson's reputation as a great dramatist lies primarily upon the brilliance of this play and three or four others. This volume's illustrations are watercolors by René ben Sussan, whose signature appears on the colophon. Initially drawn in black, they were reproduced by the collotype process in the studio of Louis Duval in Paris; the printed sheets were then colored by hand, through stencils, by Maurice Beaufamé. The introduction is by Louis Kronenberger.

This edition, which is limited to 1500 copies, was designed by Francis Meynell and printed by Charles Batey, Printer to the University at Oxford. Meynell's choice for the font is the rarely used Fell, which can only be used at Oxford; the letters are large and have a rather archaic feel to them.

The binding is quarter rust-colored linen, stamped in gold, with sides covered in linen printed with a repeating pattern.

 Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 236. In the original slipcase, covered with paper printed with the same pattern as that of the binding; case in very good condition, volume without the dust wrapper. A very attractive book and slipcase too; a near-fine copy. (33381)

 Uncommon first edition of this English translation of Fray Juan de Santa María's Tratado de República y policía christiana, published in 1615. A Christian perspective on the powers and responsibilities of monarchs, the work was inspired by the Franciscan author's opposition to the government of the Duke of Lerma. The English rendition was often assigned to Edward Blount (who signed the dedication), but is now generally considered the work of scholar and poet James Mabbe, known for his translations of Cervantes and other works of Spanish literature and theology.

The title-page here is a cancel, changing the publisher from Edward Blount to Richard Collins. The work was additionally issued in the same year with yet another title-page, under the title, Policy Unveiled: Wherein may be Learned the Order of True Policie in Kingdomes and Commonwealths, the Matters of Justice, and Government. . . .

Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 9 U.S. holdings.

 ESTC S107911; STC (2nd ed.) 14831. Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Lacks initial blank leaf, as is the case with virtually all copies. Two leaves with tattered outer edges, one leaf with small hole affecting a few letters; pages with some moderate offsetting, a few browned. (25084)

 These classic Classical satires are here offered with commentary by Thomas Farnaby (c.1575–1647), and they consituteapparently the first printing at The Hague of any Latin Classic(s) in their original Latin.

Juvenal was a Roman poet of the early second century A.D. His Satires are a standard of the genre, eloquent, humorous, and rhetorically
polished, but revealing a very bitter man. Persius (a.d. 34–62), was a gentler soul than Juvenal, and his poems are more Stoic
sermons than satires, preaching a moral life during one of Rome's more corrupt periods and doing so, most remarkably, without a hint of self-righteousness.
The two Satyrae are often published together, in contrast and comparison.

This is the first printing at the Hague of this edition with Farnaby's notes,
originally printed at London in 1612 and then reprinted in Amsterdam in 1630.
The emblematic engraved title-page here was done by A. de Blois; the separate
title-page for Persius bears the printer's device.

 Starkly handsome Limited Editions Club production from especially
good designers and presses: Translated from the German by Willa and Edwin Muir,
Kafka's disturbing short story appears here in a volume designed by Benjamin
Shiff, set in monotype Walbaum at the Out of Sorts Letter Foundery in Mamaroneck,
NY, printed on mould-made Magnani paper atthe
Shagbark Press in Maine, and hand-sewn and hand-bound by
Carol Joyce. The work is illustrated with four dark, abstract lithographs done
by painter Michael Hafftka and printed on hand-made Japanese paper. This is
numbered copy 538 of 800 printed, beingsigned
at the colophon by the artist.

 This slender volume containsten
wood engravings printed in color and one in black and whiteby
the illustrator Kalashnikov (1930–2007), who, inspired by Dostoyevsky's
works, created “amongst the finest 'avant-garde' wood-engravings produced
in the former Soviet Union.” The title-page isprinted
in both English and Russian on facing pages, withthe
artist's autobiographical essay, also in English and Russian,
preceding the illustrations. 135 copies were typeset by Speedspools, Edinburgh,
and printed by Sebastian Carter at theRampant
Lions Press on Zerkall mould-made paper. This is copy no. 40,
and issigned
by the artist and the author below the colophon.

Binding: By The Fine Bindery, Wellingborough, in quarter brown cloth over patterned paper boards in salmon and rust, featuring a design from a block by the artist, with title gilt to spine.

 One of the great classical Japanese essays: Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki, translated into English by Donald Keene and here in an elegantly minimalist fine press limited edition from Claude Fredericks of the Banyan Press. Some describe the work as “the Walden Pond of medieval Japan.”

This is thefirst book-form edition of the translation, following its original appearance in Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature; three hundred copies were set by hand in Garamond and printed on Masa paper by Fredericks and David Beeken.

 Original hand-stitched wrappers resembling bamboo grain, with paper label on front wrapper, in paper overlay matching the endpapers; outer overlay with minor edge wear and with small annotation (possibly from publisher) on label. A lovely and uncommon production. (35979)

 The first Janus Press quilt book. This visually engaging and heartbreaking five-sided, multicolored book in a patterned mauve clamshell was designed to look like a series of quilting squares, with each page cut into a different shape, in a concertina binding structure. As the pages are turned, select words and phrases from Kaufman's poem conjuring a lonely older woman remembering a brief love affair emerge and remain visible, giving a glimpse into the narrator's regret.

The book was “designed by Claire Van Vliet based on a binding structure developed by Hedi Kyle & made with Linda Wray and boxes made by Judi Conant, Guildhall Vermont.” A note in the clamshell reports the types of paper used as “Fabriano tan, green, & blue mouldmade cover; Barcham Green handmade India, Boxley & India Office; Twinrocker Aura and Lilac Wind; and from MacGregor-Vinzani Blue Fleck, Brockport and the abaca lilac, pink, tan & grey for the binding concertina.”

A limitation statement, in letter-press and signed by Kaufman and Van Vliet, announces that this unnumbered and unlettered copy is specifically for Andrew Hedden.

 Fine, Janus Press 1981–90, 20. Bound and housed as above, the smallest bumps to corners, back cover starting to warp at one edge, case pristine. A complex, interesting work of book art in a special copy. (37128)

 Sole edition and printed by Charles Whittingham: The ancient Germanic tale of Siegfried the Dragon Slayer comes in various versions with a multitude of adventures — however, the common feature is Siegfried’s courage and strength. This 19th-century retelling of the story features 14 adventures with eight exquisite chromolithographic illustrations (including a frontispiece) after designs by German painter Wilhelm (von) Kaulbach. Sigfried’s colorful deeds, which include interesting encounters in the wilderness and fighting giants, end with the inevitable dragon battle.

Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Originally published in 1764 under the title Ruins of Netley Abbey (and a different item from the anonymously printed Ruins of Netley Abbey of 1765), this poem features an engraved vignette of the titular ruins, done by C. Grignion, on the title-page; also present is a brief history of the abbey.

 This insomniac sonnet by John Keats (1795–1821) is addressed to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852), a lesser but still notable light among England's Romantic poets. Keats sent him the verses with a letter dated 25 March 1818, at Teignmouth, Devon, England, where he spent a few weeks and completed the epic poem Endymion.

This limited edition keepsake pamphlet is one of 50 printed by Martino Mardersteig at theOfficina Bodoni, handset using a variant of Dante type on Magnani handmade paper.

 On the poem, see: Milnes, ed., Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, pp. 83–86. Stitched in gray paper wrappers with author and title printed in black on front cover. Fine. (30803)

 Collection of Christian-themed short stories, poems, and readings, most of which counsel the womanly virtues of patience, submission, and self-control. This volume, the third to appear in the Opal series, is illustrated with mezzotints by J.G. Chapman; all eight of the plates described in the list of illustrations are present, but not the added engraved title-page.

Includes two poems by Whittier: “My soul and I” and “The wife of Manoah to her husband.”

Kellogg, Eugenia. The Awakening of Poccalito. A Tale of Telegraph Hill, and Other Tales. San Francisco: The Unknown Publisher, 1903. 12mo (17.5 cm; 7"). 130 pp.$245.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 Gorgeous presentation copy of an interesting collection of short stories. Kellogg gives us six short stories set in California, Mexico, and Alaska, with prefatory matter including a printed short laudatory letter from Joaquin Miller, reproducing his holograph signature and dated November 7th 1903.

Presentation/Provenance: The presentation is on the dedication page and reads: “For Mr. James L. Carhart. With the best sentiments of the author. Eugenia Kellogg. (Mrs. E. B. Holmes). June 2nd 1918. San Francisco.” And the recipient has written in pencil, “Note: Mrs. E. B. Holmes is the widow of Mr. Edwin B. Holmes, a fellow actor with me in the celebrated American comedian, John E. Owens' company, which played at the Vanities Theater, New Orleans, La, the season of 1874-5.”

Carhart secured a second copy of the frontispiece portrait of Kellogg and on the verso has written: “E.B. Holmes was a member of John E. Owens' company, which played at the Vanities Theater, New Orleans, La, the season of 1874-5. Mr. Holmes played old men and character parts — same as I did.”

Binding: Publisher' green ribbed cloth, stamped in gilt on front cover with the author's name, a shortened version of the title, and the image of Telegraph Hill in the era when it was surmounted by a “castle” — “Poccalito” in his pauper's rags framed between flourishes below this. A very interesting cover.

 Not in Wright. Bound as above with cloth and gilt fresh and bright; a clean, obviously always treasured, little volume. Very good condition. (34675)

 First edition of Kerouac's first book. An advance review copy, this distinction being printed on its wrapper; there apparently was no distributed “proof copy” for it.

A fictionalized account of the author's life and family and friends, the novel is somewhat conventional but contains the seeds and hints of things that will mature, expand, and dominate in his later writings.

 Charters A1a for the first edition, first issue; Charters notes the existence of advance reading copies, but does not give them a separate entry, nor speculate about the number bound as here. Publisher's printed salmon paper wrappers, rear cover with a slim crease to paper (in production?); a fresh, unworn copy. Cryptic pencilled characters (totalling 13) on endpapers and rear endpaper with one very short tear. Housed in a quarter green morocco clamshell box. (34815)

 First edition of this authoritative reference work on the essayist and literary critic, written by the great British surgeon who pioneered blood transfusions and a rational approach to breast cancer. He was also a noted book collector, bibliographer of Blake, brother of the economist Maynard Keynes, and the man who saved Virginia Woolf's life following her first (i.e., 1913) suicide attempt. The volume is illustrated with reproductions of many of Hazlitt's first edition title-pages, as well as a portrait and a folding facsimile of one of Hazlitt's letters.

This isnumbered copy 298 of 750 printed by R. & R. Clark in Edinburgh for the Nonesuch Press, with the four collotype illustrations printed by the Chiswick Press.

 Dreyfus, History of the Nonesuch Press, 75. Publisher's quarter blue-grey paper with taupe paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label, in original dust wrapper with black-stamped spine label; binding very slightly cocked with corners rubbed; wrapper sunned with edge chips and short tears, and interior tape reinforcements to two tears at spine and one at back fold. Offsetting from jacket flaps to endpapers; front pastedown with previous owner's pencilled annotations. A clean, solid, andquite pleasant copy. (33868)

 Originally composed as a letter to King's friend, the “Bachelor of San Francisco,” and first published in Century Magazine in 1886,
this delightful tale was inspired by Cervantes and his account of Don Quixote's encounter with the legendary helmet of the Moorish king; Francis P. Farquhar
introduces it here. The present example isone
of 350 copies printed at the University of California Press for the Book Club
of California. Prior to this edition, the story — which
opens with a recollection of an encounter in San Francisco — had only
appeared in book form once before, in 1904.

 Handsome Limited Editions Club printing of this rollicking historical novel set amidst 16th-century strife between the Protestant English and Catholic Spanish, written by the author of the Water Babies. The10 plates and additional in-text illustrations were brush-drawn by Edward A. Wilson and hand-colored by Paul Baruch, and the introduction was written by John T. Winterich.

The volumes were designed by Eugene Clauss and printed at the Akerman-Standard Company, with the binding done by the Russell-Rutter Company. This is numbered copy 1157 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 182. Publisher's quarter canvas and light blue paper–covered sides, front covers stamped with globe and ship vignette in black and gold, spines stamped in black, gilt, and red, in original slipcase; slipcase showing light shelfwear with mild sunning to spine, volumes with spines darkened, otherwise crisp and clean. One leaf in vol. I with lower outer corner creased. A nice set. (36799)

 First book-form printing of this poem, following its initial appearance in TheNew Yorker; its Rhode Island–born author (1927–2014) was often compared to Walt Whitman, and this piece highlights his signature earthiness. The text is illustrated with three full-page photographs by Lotte Jacobi, selected from her archive at the University of New Hampshire and printed from the original negatives.

The text was designed by Claire Van Vliet, set by hand in Trump Mediaeval, and printed by Van Vliet and Christy Bertelson on Barcham Green Tovil paper at the Janus Press in West Burke, VT.

This isnumbered copy 102 of a total of 170 printed, signed at the colophon by both Kinnell and Jacobi.

 First edition, or as Richards says “First (Indian) Edition,” in thefirst state of the wrappers. These stories, with the exception of “The Drums of the Fore and Aft,” are “Reprinted in chief from the 'Week's news'” (title-page) and include “Wee Willie Winkie,” “Baa, Baa Black Sheep,” and “His Majesty the King.” This is vol. 6 in“A.H. Wheeler & Co.'s Indian Railway Library” series.

A good deal has been written about “Wee Willie Winkie” and the other short stories here, much of it negative-revisionary in nature, but we would call one's attention to John McGivering's evenhanded (but perhaps partisan) observations on the Kipling Society website: “Looking at this story of a spoilt and precocious child in the cold light of the 21st Century, it seems at first sight most unlikely, even in a work of fiction, that such a child could so confront and outface a gang of wild armed men. However, considering the status of the British in India in that era, and looking at Kipling’s account of his own childhood in Bombay reflected in the first part of 'Baa Baa, Black Sheep' . . . it is perhaps not as implausible as it seems.”

The illustrations on the wrappers are by Kipling's father, John L. Kipling, and were engraved on wood at the Mayo Art School in Lahore where he was the principal.

 Richards A19; Stewart 54; Martindell 34; Livingston 43. Never bound, in original green wrappers lightly soiled; light discoloration to lower corners of wrappers, front one with an old crease, short tear at base of spine. Advertisement leaf before title-leaf (not called for in any bibliography) torn and detached but present. A fragile publication, housed for protection in a red cloth chemise. (37903)

 Posthumous publication for the first time of a selection of Kleist's plays and poetry (he committed suicide in 1811). Tieck, the editor, present here “Prinz Friedrich von Homburg,” “Die Herrmannsschlacht,” “Fragment aus dem Trauerspiel Robert Guiskard,” and several poems.

Kleist's life was a troubled one financially, psychologically, and creatively. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.) characterizes him as “by far the most important North German dramatist of the Romantic movement, and no other of the Romanticists approaches him in the energy with which he expresses patriotic indignation.”

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, but we know of a third.

 Later 19th-century blue-green marbled paper–covered boards; foxing and browning as typical of the paper with but a few odd spots additionally, and perhaps six leaves with a stain as from a spill, extending across text but not hampering reading. Very readable in both senses; a decent, solid copy of an important work of German literature. (33011)

 First edition: Engaging periodical compilation of poetry, history,
Christian meditations, natural history, art and literary criticism, biography,
and fiction, set forth in 52
weekly issues meant to be consumed in half-hour portions, with
each weekly number containing seven half-hours. (Indices and quarterly title-pages
are bound in here.)

Knight, who was devoted to books and to literature from the time he was a small child,
was a much-admired printer and publisher, as well as an author, reformer, and would-be
educator: Many of his publishing endeavors were aimed at improving and enlightening the
working class.

 NSTC 2K7731. On Knight, see: Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth, style Wav3.
Publisher's textured brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with muse motif and title, spines with
gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; lightly worn overall with some fading, vol. II
spine head with traces of a strip of cloth tape. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate,
call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Paper slightly
embrittled (more so in second volume), with a few short edge tears. Externally ordinary;
internally worthwhile. (26860)

 First U.S. edition of these devotional pieces, originally published in 1694 under the title Entretiens solitaires d'une âme dévote avec son dieu, here in an English translation accomplished by an anonymous American. A reviewer of a later edition concluded that the work represented “the aspect of devotional life favored by the evangelical school in the Episcopal church” (The Literary World, no. 220, p. 317).

The original author's name appears in innumerable variations according to various transcribers' nationalities; Count Georg Wilhelm von Kniphausen (or Knyphausen) of Nienort (or Nienoort) was also known as George Willem (or Guillaume), Comte van Kniphausen, etc.

 Shaw & Shoemaker 28892. Contemporary treed sheep, recently rebacked with complementary mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; original leather showing expectable rubbing/cracking. Title-page with institutional pressure- and rubber-stamp; no other marks. One leaf with old burn damage (the ash from a pipe??) to lower inner portion, margins repaired, loss of a few letters without obscuring sense; one leaf with closed tear from outer margin and no loss; one leaf with a corner taken, just touching text without loss; upper corners dust-soiled, and pages generally age-toned, with no brittleness or other “issues.” (27242)

 Translated from the Arabic by Arthur Jeffery and designed for the LEC by Valenti Angelo with an intricate “carpet”-like title-page executed in red and blue with hand-applied touches of real gold; with sectional title-pages that are equally but differently intricate; and with every text page decorated with red and blue arabesque frames, motifs, and ornaments.

Binding: Also designed by Angelo, this is accomplished in red- and blue-stamped tan cloth and incorporates a“wallet-like flap” following traditional Arabic Qu'ran binding style. Volume housed in publisher's blue cloth-covered clamshell slipcase (with a drop-down front element), box bearing a rectangular stencilled label of gilt applied on the cloth so “The Koran” is left set forth in the underlying blue.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed by A. Colish, signed at the colophon by Angelo. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 284. Binding and box as above; volume pristine, slipcase showing mild shelfwear with small scuff to gilt title. A lovely copy. (30158)